BOSTON — The Red Sox already have been playing better than they did in the past two seasons. A three-game sweep of the New York Yankees on Sunday put them in first place in the American League East, and they’re outhitting everyone in the AL.
But they’re not even close to a lock for the division.
Of course, this should be obvious after just one month, but that doesn’t make the AL East standings any less interesting now that we’re into May. If you asked the oddsmakers, the Red Sox are performing as they were expected to. But they might be the only ones.
The Baltimore Orioles in second place might be the biggest surprise at April’s end, and the goal for May will be for them to keep that up. The O’s lineup is powerful enough to keep carrying them, but their rotation is not. They might end up battling the Red Sox for much of the season to see which team’s pitching can keep up with its offense. And the edge might go to Boston’s bullpen there.
As for the Toronto Blue Jays, they’re so far underperforming at 12-14. On paper, though, Toronto easily is the best team in the AL East. The Jays have the best rotation, the best defense and a lineup that’s so good it should be illegal. But Toronto’s bullpen leads Major League Baseball with eight losses, which has been bringing a good team down. If they can pull their act together, though, the Blue Jays will be gunning for the top in no time.
The Tampa Bay Rays are performing exactly as expected in fourth place. Their rotation’s 3.39 ERA is the sixth-best in MLB and the third-best in the AL, but their offense pretty much consists of home runs and nothing else. The Rays’ 28 long balls are 11th in the league, but their 77 runs, 173 hits and .221 average all are league worsts. Still, Tampa Bay is just two games below .500 at 11-13, and it’s not unbelievable that its offense could start doing just enough to get by.
The Yankees are what happens when everything that could go wrong with a team does. Their ace, Masahiro Tanaka, has been great, but otherwise, they have the worst rotation in the division, and their offense has been almost as bad as the Rays’. No one really expected the Yankees to overachieve this season, but they also didn’t expect them to be sitting near the bottom of the MLB standings at 8-15. New York’s offense still could heat up, though, and if it does, teams might be finding themselves behind and facing the Yankees’ bullpen, which will be even scarier when Aroldis Chapman returns from suspension May 9.
It’s hard to tell what any of the AL East’s teams are really made of after an up-and-down April all around. But one thing is for sure, and it’s that this should be quite a race to watch in September.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
